Keith Devens .com - Weblog: "No blood for oil" analyzed economically

Wednesday, February 5, 2003

"No blood for oil" analyzed economically

Here's an interesting analysis of the "No blood for oil" (crappy) argument in terms of opportunity costs.

I've avoided discussing the potential war with Iraq, plenty of other places on the web for that, but I will comment on the "No Blood for Oil" rallying cry popular with the far-left. Their argument is that the US just wants to attack Iraq because then it will take over its oil fields and give itself oil for free. Whatever the merits of their claim, it doesn't stand up well to economic scrutiny.

Permalink | 2 Comments | Tags: Opinions/Politics | id 3412

18:35 (utc-5)

Comments

anonymous wrote:

what an amusingly ill-conceived theory.. surely he thought about this for less than five minutes... the financial difference between buying something you consume (e.g. eggs) and stealing it is the retail cost(of the eggs). Add to this that the argument is less about getting free oil and more about controlling the levels of oil production globally (the saudis play this game very effectively) and you'll see what a brain-dead effort he's making.

"only 17% of americans realise that there were no Iraqi hijackers on September 11th"

∴ anonymous | 6-Feb-2003 6:30pm est | #1398

Not saying I agree with his analysis, I just thought it was interesting. Plus, it brought back up some of what I learned in economics class I still think saying that this war is all about oil is a silly argument, however.

Re: The Saudis... I do think that after we have unrestricted access to Iraq's oil we'll be in a better position to bitch slap Saudi Arabia.

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